What is "diospyros lotus"

Lotus \Lo"tus\ (l[=o]"t[u^]s), n. [L. lotus, Gr. lwto`s. Cf. Lote.]

1. (Bot.)

   1. A name of several kinds of water lilies; as Nelumbium speciosum, used in religious ceremonies, anciently in Egypt, and to this day in Asia; Nelumbium luteum, the American lotus; and Nymph[ae]a Lotus and Nymph[ae]a c[ae]rulea, the respectively white-flowered and blue-flowered lotus of modern Egypt, which, with Nelumbium speciosum, are figured on its ancient monuments.

   2. The lotus of the lotuseaters, probably a tree found in Northern Africa, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain ( Zizyphus Lotus), the fruit of which is mildly sweet. It was fabled by the ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native country, or lose all desire to return to it.

   3. The lote, or nettle tree. See Lote.

   4. A genus ( Lotus) of leguminous plants much resembling clover. [Written also lotos.]

      European lotus, a small tree ( Diospyros Lotus) of Southern Europe and Asia; also, its rather large bluish black berry, which is called also the date plum.

2. (Arch.) An ornament much used in Egyptian architecture, generally asserted to have been suggested by the Egyptian water lily.

Date \Date\, n.[F. datte, L. dactylus, fr. Gr. ?, prob. not the same word as da`ktylos finger, but of Semitic origin.] (Bot.) The fruit of the date palm; also, the date palm itself.

Note: This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft pulp, sweet, esculent, and wholesome, and inclosing a hard kernel.

Date palm, or Date tree (Bot.), the genus of palms which bear dates, of which common species is Ph[oe]nix dactylifera. See Illust.

Date plum (Bot.), the fruit of several species of Diospyros, including the American and Japanese persimmons, and the European lotus ( Diospyros Lotus).

Date shell, or Date fish (Zo["o]l.), a bivalve shell, or its inhabitant, of the genus Pholas, and allied gener

1. See Pholas.